1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fire equipment access panels such as the door of a fire extinguisher cabinet and more specifically to an improved fire access panel of the type in which glass is used to permit observation of the interior contents thereof and wherein a tempered glass and an edge breaking apparatus are used to prevent injury that may be incurred from large shards of broken annealed glass normally used in such panels.
2. Prior Art
Based upon a prior art search conducted by the applicant, the most relevant prior art appears to be the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,158,908 Springer PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,039 Marceau PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,930 Lippmann PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,709 Perina PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,697 Russell PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,439 Lee PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,311 Palomar PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,777 Masacchia PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,588 Benlolo et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,145 Vollimer PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,613 Deprez et al
Of the aforementioned patents, the most pertinent appear to be the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,697 to Russell is directed to a fire extinguisher cabinet. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fire extinguisher cabinet houses a fire extinguisher F which is illustrated positioned on a bottom 10 of a rectangular cabinet including top and side walls 11 and 12, respectively, and a back panel 13. A transparent slidable front panel 15 is movably positioned in the in-turned channels 14 and held in a position closing the front of the fire extinguisher cabinet by a manually movable latch 16 mounted on the bottom 10 of the cabinet. A key actuated cylinder lock assembly 17 is positioned in an aperture in the upper right hand side portion of the transparent slidable front panel 15 and arranged to move an actuating arm 18 in an arc based on the axis of the cylinder lock assembly 17.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,930 to Lippmann is directed to easily disintegratable structures. FIG. 1 illustrates a container or ampule 10 comprising a main cylindrical body portion 11 surrounding the cavity 12 in which various fluids or gases may be stored. The main body portion 11 is formed of a frangible material which is extremely strong and resistant to breakage during normal use, but will completely disintegrate when the narrow extension or tip 13 is broken. It is preferred that the frangible material be made of tempered glass. The frangible house 10 may serve as a fire extinguisher whereby extinguishing material of any suitable gas, liquid or solid is loaded into the cavity 12.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,613 to Deprez et al is directed to safety window panes made of laminated glass and processes for their manufacture. The window pane includes two glasses made of annealed, hardened or quenched glass 1, 2, bonded to one another by an insert sheet of synthetic material 3 to the opposite faces of which the glasses are adhesively attached. The sheet includes in the material a line 4 of discontinuity and mechanical strength of relatively small width. The line defines an outline of pre-opening of a surface area such that after breaking of the glasses 1 and 2 and rupture along the outline, it offers a sufficient passage for a human body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,777 to Masacchia is directed to a break-away wall structure. The break-away wall structure includes a door panel aligned edge-to-edge with a wall panel. The wall panel is locked in place by spring loaded plungers which can be actuated by a handle kept for normal use. The vertical handle 71 is rigidly mounted on the end of the lug 67. Thus, the handle 71 rigidly connected to the crescent-shaped lever plate 63. By rotation of the crescent-shape lever plate 63 by movement of the handle 71 toward the levers 59, the crescent-shaped lever plate 63 will rotate about the pin 65, thereby pulling the bar 61 toward the handle 71. When the bar 61 is pulled toward the handle 71, the levers 59 will also move toward the handle 71 and the arms 53 as well as the rods 51 secured to the arms 53 will thereby pull the plungers 45 and 47 back from the frame 11, thus permitting the wall panel 23 to be opened.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,039 to Marceau is directed to a glass tempering apparatus with resilient sheet support means. This invention relates to tempering of sheet glass, and more particularly to means to move a sheet of glass smoothly between the air blasts that are used to temper the glass and hold them accurately in position.
Based upon the foregoing, it may be seen that there is still an ongoing need for a fire access panel of the type using a glass pane to permit visual observation of the interior contents thereof and which provides access to such interior contents only by way of breaking the glass pane during a fire emergency and wherein the user is less subject to inadvertent injury due to a severe laceration on a shard of broken glass that is normally encountered in such prior art devices. More specifically, there is a need for an improved safety fire access panel of the type using a glass pane wherein breakage of the glass to gain access to the contents therein may be more readily accomplished without the necessity of actually striking the glass and wherein the resultant broken glass is shattered into such small glass pieces that there is no likelihood of a severe laceration as would be the case in the prior art.